johnnysama Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 Anybody in this group follow U Sports (Canadian university sport) football? I'd love to hear from you. I'm from the USA, so I follow NCAA football; the University of Washington Huskies are my main rooting interests. U Sports football deserves more attention in Canada, because that's where quite a few of the CFL's stars of tomorrow are (even as some play south of the border in the NCAA/NAIA, not to detract from U Sports). Also worth noting: There have been a few Canadian football players who played college ball in U Sports (and its predecessor organizations) that have actually been drafted south in the NFL; the first player was Brian Fryer, who went to the University of Alberta and and had a cuppa coffee (as they say in baseball) with the Washington Redskins in 1976, but would later go on to be one of the cornerstones of the Edmonton Eskimos' five-in-a-row Grey Cup dynasty from 1978 to 1982. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Heidt Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 54 minutes ago, johnnysama said: Anybody in this group follow U Sports (Canadian university sport) football? I'd love to hear from you. I'm from the USA, so I follow NCAA football; the University of Washington Huskies are my main rooting interests. U Sports football deserves more attention in Canada, because that's where quite a few of the CFL's stars of tomorrow are (even as some play south of the border in the NCAA/NAIA, not to detract from U Sports). Also worth noting: There have been a few Canadian football players who played college ball in U Sports (and its predecessor organizations) that have actually been drafted south in the NFL; the first player was Brian Fryer, who went to the University of Alberta and and had a cuppa coffee (as they say in baseball) with the Washington Redskins in 1976, but would later go on to be one of the cornerstones of the Edmonton Eskimos' five-in-a-row Grey Cup dynasty from 1978 to 1982. Hey Johnny, I love this topic. As a fellow hardcore Canadian football fan, have regularly followed Canadian university football for decades. Have been some interesting uniforms over the years. Conference semi-finals were today. All the home teams won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Heidt Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 This post might sound similar to what we have seen recently in the NHL thread . Calgary Dinos might look better if they dropped the black trim and went with just red and yellow like the old days. Aside from the helmet logo, those red and yellow uniforms from back in the 1983 Vanier Cup were sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnysama Posted November 3, 2019 Author Share Posted November 3, 2019 ^ Aah, Varsity Stadium. Odd to see the yard markers marking the yards ending in '5' and not '0' as is custom. The Calgary Dinos have uniforms akin to the Kansas City Chiefs, I've noticed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCap Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 Go Western! PotD 26/2/12 1/7/15 2020 BASS Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal Regular Season Champion 2021 BASS NFL Pick'em Regular Season Champion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadragon76 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 I think it's neat that they have an actual playoff system in Canada that works. All four conferences have playoffs and the winners meet in bowl games and then the national championship game. I do wish more schools played in football though. 27 schools is awfully small if you ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Heidt Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 1 hour ago, Seadragon76 said: I think it's neat that they have an actual playoff system in Canada that works. All four conferences have playoffs and the winners meet in bowl games and then the national championship game. I do wish more schools played in football though. 27 schools is awfully small if you ask me. We do have the 27 schools but might be hard pressed to get more to play football. Smaller population in Canada will mean less schools play U Sports football than one may see in the U.S. We may be lucky to have 27. A few of the schools in the Atlantic that commit to playing football are really quite small in enrollment (Acadia, Mount Allison, Bishop's). Out west here, we realistically could have at least 2 more schools. Simon Fraser plays NCAA Div II football and started playing U.S. football in the 1960s. They did spend an 8 year hiatus from 2002-2009 playing Canadian rules in Canada West. I'm sure the school does not want to give up its NCAA designation, but I would be way more interested in following and going to Simon Fraser games in Burnaby if they were playing teams like UBC (in regular season) and Saskatchewan rather than South Dakota School of Mines and Azusa Pacific. Having Simon Fraser in Canada West was good while it lasted. Also, University of Victoria has healthy enrollment and there is a stadium there that is fit for hosting U Sports football. They play every other sport. Seems a shame to me that there is no Victoria Vikes football team in Canada West. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadragon76 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 The information I got was from the Wikipedia page saying there was talk of UBC Okanagan having a team similar to how Regina does it and a team at UQTR but that has stalled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Heidt Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 2 hours ago, Seadragon76 said: The information I got was from the Wikipedia page saying there was talk of UBC Okanagan having a team similar to how Regina does it and a team at UQTR but that has stalled. Yep, good points. Those schools could be added if all would work out right. It was disappointing about UQTR. Would have loved to see the green and orange of the Patriotes on the RSEQ gridiron. That hope seems to have died at the end of 2016. Have not heard any news about trying to get that going again. https://canadafootballchat.com/final-decision-for-football-at-uqtr/ Heard about talks for the Okanagan Sun of the Canadian Junior Football League to become the team that would represent UBC Okanagan and move to U Sports. Regina Rams were a junior football team before become the U. of Regina Rams and adding some gold to their uniforms to match school colours. Would hope the Okanagan Sun would continue to wear the brown and orange in university football. However, those talked are snagged too. Have not heard and news about that going ahead for a while. Unless there is some news? https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2014/07/17/canada-west-defers-decision-to-add-football-at-ubc-okanagan/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skycast Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 I would love to follow it more, I've become an avid CFL fan over the last four or five seasons and watch at least a part of almost every game via ESPN+. Sadly I haven't found a way to watch any U Sports games nor have I even found anything like a weekly highlight or recap show. I honestly find the 3-down brand of football much more exciting to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jer15 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 23 hours ago, Skycast said: I would love to follow it more, I've become an avid CFL fan over the last four or five seasons and watch at least a part of almost every game via ESPN+. Sadly I haven't found a way to watch any U Sports games nor have I even found anything like a weekly highlight or recap show. I honestly find the 3-down brand of football much more exciting to watch. Not sure if it will be geoblocked but each region has it's own streaming service. Admittedly, I've only used OUA.tv. You can find more info here: https://usports.ca/en/broadcast GTA United(USA) 2015 + 2016 USA Champions/Toronto Maroons (ULL)2014, 2015 + 2022 Gait Cup Champions/Toronto Northmen (TNFF) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Heidt Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Was really, really not pleased with the uniform change for the UBC Thunderbirds this year. Much prefer the old uniforms: Compared to the new ones: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skycast Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 On 11/6/2019 at 10:48 PM, Wade Heidt said: Was really, really not pleased with the uniform change for the UBC Thunderbirds this year. Honestly I'm on the opposite fence post here...I love that darker shade of blue and the new helmets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LA_Angels Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 Well its Yates Cup season yet again! This year features the defending Yates Cup Champions Western Mustangs taking on the Mauraders of McMaster live from TD Stadium in London, ON. Should be a great game, unfortunately for me the game falls right in the middle of exam season, but as tickets a free for western students it's an event i do not wish to miss. For those OUA fans who are not located in Southwestern Ontario the game is streaming live on the Western Mustangs website. Go 'stangs Go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Heidt Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 Looks like CFL Commish Randy Ambrosie wants to do what he can to get the Vanier Cup and Grey Cup together on the same weekend as part of Grey Cup week. https://3downnation.com/2019/11/21/vanier-cup-grey-cup-pairing-in-the-works-must-happen-for-future-growth/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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